Life and distinguished services of William McKinley ...

Front matter

i i^ife a distinguished Services

OF

William McKinley

Author's Preface

ON the day before Major McKinley was nominated for the Presidency, an artist distinguished for the fetching touch of his penci.i in catching and fixing likenesses in a few lines, stood in the door of a room where the Major was seated, and never having before seen the famous face, was regarding it with personal and professional intensity, when an acquaintance approached him and said, " Have you been introduced to the Governor ?" " No," said the artist ; " not yet, presently gladly. Let me study him a moment unbeknown, just as he is. Why there is no picture that does him justice. I am right glad to see him when he has no idea of a possible sketch, and no thought of himself. I did not think so, but he is a great man. He is splendid, and there is no one like him in the country. Why did any one ever say he was not a strong man ?" The artist perceived at a glance what all who study Major McKinley find out — that he is a strong man and a great one. He is a fortunate combination of excellent, admirable, and lovable traits and qualities. Alike in his boyish patriotism, adventure and bravery in war, and the experiences of his mature years in

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10 AUTHOR'S PREFACE

the National Congress, and the straightforward dis charge of executive duty as Governor of a great StatCj there has been the heroic simplicity, unselfish and constant, that has attracted the attention and populai favor of ever-widening circles of his fellow-citizens, until his glory has become a precious possession of the American people, and inspired with it they did not wait for the stated organizations to move, before they proclaimed in many unmistakable ways that he was their candidate for the Presidency, and the National Convention of the Republican party, as a representative assembly, ratified the j^ublic will. The life of McKiuley shows the stronger and more graceful lines with greater strength and grace the better it is known. The office of his biographer is one of grateful satisfaction. His record is clear. There is no line for love to lament or for charity to cover — no chapter for the advocate to blot or the diplomat to obscure. This is one of the rarest of lives, shining in every part with the inner light of the truth that is honor's self; and the radiance of unclouded day reveals only stainless symmetry, and the harmony of open motives with consummate achievement. He could not advance to the elevation he occupies without encountering enmity and combatting imputation ; but no charge was ever contrived that he had other fault than that of friendliness perhaps too forgiving, or of confidence too generous. He is a man who will go on growing in the affection of the gentle and the estimation of the ume. In presenting the story of the martyr president's Hfe, the pubHshers have sought the aid of some of the men who knew him best, and who have generously added valuable information to the great storehouse possessed by the author.

A portion of this volume was written by Mr. Halstead, at the time Mr. McKinley was first nominated for the presidency," and being here presented as then written it shows the wonderful accuracy of the author's prophecy at that time and how the estimate he then placed on Mr. McKinley's popularity and ability has been verified by later events and the action of the people.

No writer is as well qualified to write of Mr. McKinley's life and work as is Mr. Halstead. Not only was he personally and intimately acquainted with Mr. McKinley during the latter's public career, but for half a century he has been engaged in making through the press a public record of current events. During half of that time Mr. McKinley was in active public life and his advancement and leadership were observed by the author with the keenest interest. It is hoped the book will aid in commemorating the noble life of the martyr president.

The Publishers.'

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PUBLISHERS' INTRODUCTION.

Our country has been singularly fortunate in having had, at nearly all times, some one statesman whose honesty and wisdom strengthened him to check the disturbing elements of mere politicians, and guide them in channels where serious harm could not be done. On the republic's scroll of fame there is no name that shines with greater lustre because of these qualities than that of William McKinley. A statesman of many parts, and capable in all, whose ear was ever attuned to the voice of the people, and whose deepest solicitude was their welfare, he was an ideal leader in whom the people trusted, and in whom faith was not abused.

The career of William McKinley was exemplary. His personal virtue, his purity of character, his honesty of motive, his patriotic purpose, his loyalty to right, his love of justice, his spirit of mercy, endeared him to the people, so that when he was struck down by the assassin they felt the blow as if it had been struck at themselves.

The record of such a life and such a career deserves a permanent form as is given by this volf 7

AUTllOLrS I'llEFACE 11

judicious. The potency of liis character and intellect and the kindliness of his heart, declare in his presence, that the favorite disparagements in which his assailants indulge, the conventional accusations of partisan warftire, are but fictions that are frivolous. The verdict of the artist, that he is a strong, great man, will be confirmed by all the people, when the performance of the task they appoint for him becomes history.

MURAT HaLSTEAD.

Contents

PAGB

Publisher's introduction 7

Author's preface 9

Introduction

MAJOR WILLIAM McKINLEY requires no introduction to the people of the United States. His name and fame are in every American home. It is well that the details of a career so full of inspiration should be put in permanent form, and this has been admirably done in this volume by the accomplished author. Public men fade rapidly from even contemporary memory. Only those who are so identified with a great cause or principle, that the man and the measure are one in the popular mind, can hope to survive the tread of the ever advancing column of the ambitious and successful. This rare distinction belonged fifty years ago to Henry Clay and now to Governor McKiuley. Protection for American industries and McKinley are synonymous terms.

"yroes and statesmen are admired and loved for some striking characteristic. General Jackson has

INTRO DUCT 10. \ J!>

been the idol of a great party for more than half a century, not for the ideas he gave the organization, but because he was " Old Hickory." " I will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer," expressed the indomitable and resistless purpose of Grant. The immortal speech at Gettysburg condensed the patriotism and patlios of Lincoln. The triumph of McKinley over obstacles in a career which would have been insurmountable for a weaker man has been due to his absolute sincerity and loyalty. His clear brain and warm heart are always in accord. His sentiment is subordinate to his judgment, but when his mind is made up his emotional nature gives a contagious enthusiasm to his efforts which secures devoted followers and lends a living interest to the discussion of the driest subjects.

A boy of eighteen, teaching school to earn money for a college education and deeply imbued with the intense anti-slavery and union sentiment of Ohio, he followed the flag to the front when Lincoln called for volunteers. As soon as he was satisfied that liberty and the Republic could only be saved by fighting for them, his life belonged to his country. It is always difficult to rise from the ranks, and for a beardless boy well-nigh impossible. But in the eighteen months during which he carried a musket he was attracting the attention of the officers of his regiment — and such a regiment ! Its Colonel, General Rosecrans, was promoted to the command of the Armies of the Tennessee and the Cumberland. Its

•JO INTEODUCTION

Lieutenant - Colonel, Stanley Matthews, became United States Senator and one of the Judges of that august tribunal, the Supreme Court. Its Major, Rutherford B. Hayes, was elected Governor of Ohio and President of the United States, and soon the successor of Hayes in the Majority of the gallant Twenty-third will also be the Chief Magistrate of this Republic. Our army was retreating down the Valley of Virginia ; brigade after brigade of exhausted troops passed a battery of four guns which had been abandoned in the road. " The boys will haul them," said McKinley, and responding to his call and example his comrades did. He was in a safe place as Commissary Sergeant, two miles from the field at the Battle of Antietam. His business was to guard the rations until called for. Soldiers fight far better on full than empty stomachs, and so thought this fearless and practical Commissary Sergeant, and as evening fell two mule wagons loaded with food and hot coffee were going, under heavy fire from the enemy, straight for the boys at the front, and the driver of the first wagon, and the one which got through, was Sergeant McKinley. He was the staff officer selected to carry an order to a regiment in a perilous position to join the main column. It was believed that no one could ride across the enemy's front and reach his destination alive. The gallant Major never hesitated, but quietly and quickly obeyed orders and saved the regiment. These battle incidents, selected from many, indicate and reveal the

I

THEODORE ROOSEVELT,

PRESIDENT WILLIAM McKIXLEY.

Mckinley at eigmieen.

WILLIAM McKINLEV WHEN ELECTED TO CONGRESS.

lN'l'lU)i)l ( TION ^3

man, never fool-luuvly nor )>oastful nor rash, but with intuitive genius grasping the situation and with serene confidence meeting wisely its requirements, regardless of consequences or perils to himself.

Governor McKinley was born and has passed his life in that manufacturing district of his native State which is a hive of varied industries. From early youth he has witnessed and felt the seasons of employment and idleness which come to the workers in mills and factories. He had participated with his play-fellows and companions in the joyous conditions which attend the humming spindles, the whirl of machinery, and the blaze of the furnaces, and his heart had been wrung by association with strong men suffering and seeking only work, and their sons no longer able to be at the district school. He pondered deeply over the questions suggested by such occurrences, and eagerly sought remedies for the fluctuations which involved capital and labor and the employers and employes in common ruin. With Washington and Hamilton, with Webster and Clay, he came, not alone, as they did, by the cold deductions of reason, but also by observation and experience, to the conclusion that the solution of our industrial problems and the salvation of our productive industries could only be had by the policy of a Protective Tariff. As Union and Liberty had been the inspiration of his courage and sacrifices as a soldier, so now America for Americans became the active princijr' " his efforts as a citizen. A century of

24 INTRODUCTION

discussion had not enlivened tariff debates. Tliey were the preserves of the " dry-as-dust " speaker and the dread of the orator. This question has been for a century the foremost one in platforms and legislation, but worn threadbare in debate. When Congressman McKinley appeared upon the floor of the House of Representatives to voice the aspirations of American labor for work and wages it was like Paul preaching to the Gentiles. The best brains of the country had been advocating the principle, but now brain and heart were united in the cause. Had McKinley done nothing else his popular discussions of tariff questions in Congress, on the stump, and before college commencements would have earned for him the recognition and gratitude of his countrymen. His audiences at once learn that they are not listening to a declaimer or a commentator upon academic theories, but they are roused to wild enthusiasm by the passion and earnestness, the convictions and pleadings of a sincere man, who both knows and feels the wisdom and necessity of the principles he advocates. No man could talk so ably, so often, and so entertainingly upon this well-worn theme unless he was broad-minded and versatile.

The fame of Governor McKinley as the most captivating orator on protection issues of this generation has obscured his merits as a speaker of eminence and power upon a wide range of topics. Whether the theme is patriotic or educational, religious or secular, a discriminating eulogy upon a departed

J.XTKODUCTION 25

statesman or an address before farmers or journalists, we find in the speeches of Mr. McKinley the same thoughtful, courageous, sincere, and lucid thinker.

The sweetest and tenderest word in our language is home. The source and centre of all the saving and helpful influences which form American character and determine American action come from the family and fireside. No man could hope to represent our people who failed to embody in his life and in popular appreciation this ideal. Our hearts and sympathies are with lovers, young or old, who are pure and true. The Major is both a young and old lover, and always a lover. The young lady, educated, accomplished, and beautiful, seeking to do something useful in her father's bank, saw the handsome, frank young soldier — a lawyer now — pass day by day, and he in turn noticed this girl, so different from her companions in the earnest purposes of her life. Heaven blessed the union, and in the early, happy days two children came to brighten their home. First one and then the other was called, and their loss broke the mother's health. The cares of public life, the anxieties of political fortunes, and the triumphs of a brilliant career have never for one moment distracted or disturbed the tender solicitude and affectionate devotion of this best of husbands to the most self-sacrificing, helpful, and appreciative of wives. They are a beautiful example of wedded confidence, and their domestic life a splendid type of the American home.

INTRODUCTION

Our people have always been fortunate in the candidates presented for their suffrages for that highest position on earth — the Presidency of the United States. They never have had a better example of the results of American liberty and opportunity than this brilliant and faithful soldier, this industrious and honest citizen, this wise and practical statesman, this sincere and loyal husband and friend — William McKinley.

Chapter I

PEBiOIfXL SKETCH OF HON. WILLIAM MCKINLEY, BY HON. JOHN SHERMAN.

BY request I write this sketch of the life and traits of Hon. William McKiiiley, nominee of the Republican party for the high office of President of the United States.

He was born at Niles, Ohio, January 29th, 1848, and is, therefore, just past fifty-three years of age. He is now in the prime of vigorous manhood, and his powers of endurance are not excelled by any American of his age. The best evidence of this is the many campaigns which he has made during his public life in behalf of the Republican party. He has proved his ability and endurance by the number and perfection of the speeches which he has delivered.

His education, for reasons that could not be surmounted, was limited to the public schools of Ohio, and to a brief academic course in Allegheny College. He taught school in the country and accumulated the small means necessary to defray the expenses of that sort of education. This is the kind of schooling that a« INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

has produced many of the most eminent Americans in public and private life.

McKinley entered the Union Army in June, 1861, enlisting in the Twenty-Third Ohio Infantry, when a little more than seventeen years of age. This was a noted regiment. Among its earlier field officers may be mentioned General W. S. Rosecrans, General Scammon, General Stanley Matthews, General Rutherford B. Hayes, General Comley, and many other conspicuous men. He served during the entire war, rising from the position of a private to the rank of major. He was a soldier on the front line, served in battles, marches, bivouacs and campaigns, and received the official commendation of his superior officers on very many occasions. He returned to Ohio with a record of which any young man might well be proud, and to which the old soldiers of the country point with enthusiasm now that he is honored by a presidential nomination. There are in the United States at this time more than a million soldiers of the late war who served on the Union side, still living and voting, and they have sons and their relatives, all of whom, taken in the aggregate, become a power in a presidential election. His military career, while he was not in high command, is full of heroic incidents, which are proven not only by contemporaneous publications in the newspapers, but by official reports of his superior officers. He was not only a gallant soldier, full of endurance and personal energy, but he was the calm, judicious stafi

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 29

officer, who won the commendations of his superiors by the exhibition of good judgment and wise administrative capacity.

Returning from the war he found it necessary to choose his employment for life, and without further schooling he entered earnestly upon the study of law in the office of Judge Poland, and was a careful, faithful, industrious, and competent student. He entered the Albany Law School, and graduated from that institution with high honors. He then began the practice of law in Canton with the same enthusiasm and devotion to duty which he had always manifested. As a practitioner at the bar he at once exhibited superior qualities, careful, studious, and faithful. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney of his county, and distinguished himself by his learning, fidelity, and efficiency in the discharge of his duties to the public and his clients.

He was elected a member of the 45th Congress, and served in that Congress and the 46th, 47th, 48th, 49th, and was certified as elected to the 50th, but was excluded by a Democratic majority in a contest, but was returned to the 51st, making his congressional career nearly fourteen years. As a member of Congress he was attentive, industrious, and untiring, working his way gradually until he reached the post of leader of the Republican majority of the 51st Congress. He did not attain this position by accident or by any fortuitous circumstance, but by constant attention to his duties and a careful study of

30 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

the public measures of importance. He was a candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives of the 51st Congress. Mr. Reed, the successful candidate, appointed him as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and he entered upon the duties incident to that position with great energy and intelligence. There was a necessity and a well-defined public demand for tariff legislation in that Congress. The Republican party had come into power by the election of Mr. Harrison, with the understanding and pledge that tariff revision should be accomplished at once. The tariff laws of 1883 required amendment and improvement on account of the lapse of time and change of circumstances. In 1890 it was decided to present a complete revision of the tariff, and to this work McKinley devoted himself with untiring industry. He had upon that committee many competent assistants, but the chief burdens necessarily fell upon the chairman. Mr. Speaker Reed was in hearty sympathy and earnest co-operation, and the House of Representatives, on the 21st day of May, 1890, passed the bill known as the McKinley Tariff Bill. Any one turning to the great debate in the House of Representatives pending the passage of that measure in the Committee of the Whole will appreciate the great scope of McKinley's knowledge of the subjectmatter of that enactment.

It has never been claimed by McKinley's friends that he was the sole author of the McKinley bill. Not only did he have able supporters and assistants,

but he yielded to them under all circumstances opportunities for demonstrating their leadership upon subjects connected with the bill, and over and over ugain expressed in public and in private his-- great admiration for the assistance contributed by his colleagues in the Committee. But it is fair to say that Mc- Kinley mastered the whole subject in Congress in detail. He has made the subject of protective tariff a life study. Born and reared within the sounds of the rolling mill, and beneath the smoke and flame of furnaces, and with the full knowledge of the calls of labor and the necessities of capital, he has grown up from childhood a student of the economic questions involved in American legislation, and so he brought to this task in the 51st Congress remarkable knowledge of details and thorough equipment for the great work devolved upon him. McKinley is a^ man of conspicuous modesty. He never claimed the exclusive authorship of this measure, but it must be admitted that he contributed more than any one else to the policy of combining in a tariff law ample provision for sufficient revenue to meet the expenditures of the Government, and at the same time to protect and foster impartially all domestic labor and production from undue competition with the poorly paid labor of foreign nations.

It is often asserted that the McKinley Act failed in providing sufficient revenue to support the Government. This is not true, as it did furnish revenue to meet expenditures, but it did not provide a surplus

33 INTEODUCTORY CHAPTER

equal to tke sinking fund for the reduction of the public debt. This was not the fault of McKinley or of the House of Kepresentatives, but of the Senate, which insisted upon reciprocity clauses which largely reduced the revenue provided by that Act.

It was the misfortune of the McKinley Act that it took effect at the opening of a Presidential contest, and when "Labor Troubles" excited the public mind. The election of 1892 fell with demoralizing and almost crushing weight upon the Kepublican party of the country. The law of 1890 was everywhere, by Republicans and Democrats, denominated the McKinley Law, and from ocean to ocean the common people learned to so denominate it. At that time Major McKinley not only did not seek to evade the responsibility of his jDOsition, but frankly and openly admitted it, and he counselled courage and fortitude, and gave assurance of his strong faith in the ultimate triumph of the E-epublican party upon the very principles which then seemed to be repudiated by the people.

Addressing himself to an audience of discouraged Republicans in February, 1893, he said :

"The Republican party values its principles no less in defeat than in victory. It holds to them after a reverse as before, because it believes in them, and, believing in them, is ready to battle for them. They are not espoused for mere policy, nor to serve in a single contest. They are set deep and strong

TXTRODUCTOKY CllAl'TER 33

in the hearts of the party, and are interwoven with its struggle, its life, and its history. Without discouragement our great party reaffirms its allegiance to Republican doctrine, and with unshaken confidence seeks again the public judgment through public discussion. The defeat of 1892 has not made Republican principles less true nor our faith in their ultimate triumph less firm. The party accepts with true American spirit the popular verdict, and challenging the interpretation put upon it by political opponents, takes an appeal to the people, whose court is always open, whose right of review is never questioned.

" The Republican party, which made its first appearance in a national contest in 1856, has lost the Presidency but three times in thirty-six years, and only twice since 1860. It has carried seven Presidential elections out of ten since its organization. It has more than once witnessed an apparent condemnation of Republican policy swiftly and conclusively reversed by a subsequent and better considered popular verdict. When defeat has come it has usually followed some measure of public law or policy where sufficient time has not elapsed to demonstrate its wisdom and expediency, and where the opposing party, by reason thereof, enjoyed the widest range of popular prejudice and exaggerated statements and misrepresentation."

This was the language of a bold leader of public opinion. There was no trimming, no hiding from

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responsibility, no shirking from the grwit question of protection.

After the passage of the Tariff Act of 1890 the country rang with the designation " McKiuley Law " as a term of reproach. The man who had given his name to that Act when it was denounced, boldly proclaimed his responsibility for it. When the tide turned in its favor he heartily acknowledged the aid of his colleagues.

My familiar association as a Senator from Ohio with McKinley during his service in the House of Representatives enables me to say that he won friends from all parties by uniform courtesy and fairness, unyielding in sustaining the position of his party upon every question on the floor of the House. His leadership was, nevertheless, not offensive or aggressive, and while he carried his points, he was always courteous to his opponents, impersonal in debate, and always ready to concede honest motives to his opponents. At the close of the 51st Congress, and when his services as a Congressman ended, he retired without leaving behind him a single enemy, and yet he had been unswerving in party fealty and uncompromising upon every question of principle. His name became linked with the great measure of that Congress by the common voice of the peoj^le of the whole country, and by the world at large.

He, shortly after his service in Congress, entered upon the campaign for Governor of Ohio. He was

INTKODUCTOKY CHAPTER 35

nominated by acclamation in 1891. The State had been carried in 1890 by the Republicans by a very close majority, and the drift in the country was against the success of the Republican party. The discussion by Major McKinley in Ohio of the tariff and currency questions was one of the most thorough and instructive of all the debates in that State. It was a counterpart, in large measure, of that of 1875, when, after a series of defeats throughout the country, growing out of the use of irredeemable paper money, President Hayes, then a candidate for Governor of Ohio, boldly advocated the resumption of specie payments, and was elected on that issue. It was a campaign where principles won against prejudices. So, in the campaign of 1891, Governor McKinley, disregarding threatened disasters, adhered without compromise to the platform of principles involved in the tariff legislation of Congress. He neither apologized nor modified his position, and his election by upwards of twenty thousand majority in that year was the significant result.

The office of Governor of Ohio was to McKinley a new field of action. It was the first executive office he had ever held. It was his first experience in administrative duty. His success in that department of the public service was as significant and conspicuous as his experience in the legislative department of the general government had been.

He was Governor during a period involving excitement and intense commotion in Ohio — the strikes

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among the coal-miners, the organizing of bands of tramps, and the passage across the State of great bodies of turbulent people. All these things tended to precipitate commotion and disorder. His administration as a Governor was without reproach or just criticism. He was faitliful to every duty, firm, unyielding, and defiant in the administration of the law. When necessary he called out the troop>s and crushed disorder with an iron hand, but before doing so he resorted to every proper expedient to maintain order and the law. He was diplomatic, careful, persuasive, and generally restored order and good government.

The great depression of 1894-5 brought a condition of suffering to many of the leading industries of the State. Charity was appealed to by the Governor and aid rendered promptly and efficiently. In January, 1896, he retired from the office of Governor at the end of his second term with the hearty good-will of all the people of the State. He had yielded to no unworthy influence, made duty, honor, integrity, and fidelity the criterion of his administration, and he took his place in the ranks of the private citizens of the State in the town from which he had first entered Congress.

It has been said that Governor McKinley's knowledge is limited to a single subject, and that his speeches have been confined to the tariff question. This is a great mistake. His studies and speeches embraced a great variety of subjects and extend«d to

- INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 3?

nearly every measure of importance discussed while he was in Congress, and his addresses to the people, a long list of which has been published, cover every variety of subjects appropriate to the time and place when they were delivered.

On the vital question of the currency he has held the position of the Republican party. When under the stress of war the United States was compelled to use irredeemable money, he acquiesced in conditions he could not change, but every step taken to advance the credit and value of United States notes while he has been in public life he has supported. He supported the Act for the resumption of specie payments and the successful accomplishment of that measure. I know of no act or vote or speech of his inconsistent with this position. He advocates the use of both gold and silver coins as money to the extent and upon the condition that they can be maintained at par with each other. This can only be done by purchasing as needed the cheaper metal at market value and coining it at the legal rate of 16 of silver to 1 of gold, and receiving it in payment of public dues. Gold is now the standard of value. With free coinage of silver that metal will be the standard of value and gold will be demonetized. Governor McKinley is opposed to the free coinage of silver, and has so repeatedly declared in his speeches. McKinley is in favor of honest money.